The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg revitalized downtown, drawing massive crowds and generating an economic boost.<\/p>\n
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla \u2014 Downtown St. Petersburg shifted into high gear this weekend as the 22nd annual Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg<\/a> revved up the IndyCar season and brought massive crowds \u2014 and major economic impact \u2014 to the city.<\/p>\n Organizers say the three-day race weekend<\/a> drew well over 100,000 people, with even larger crowds than usual thanks to the addition of NASCAR Truck Series races. The Grand Prix<\/a> typically attracts about 100,000 fans, but officials say attendance surged this year as more people opted for three-day tickets.<\/p>\n The 1.8-mile street course winds through downtown, looping around Albert Whitted Airport, past the Dal\u00ed Museum and along the St. Pete Pier. Often referred to as the \u201cMonaco of IndyCar racing,\u201d the scenic track continues to be one of the most popular stops on the circuit.<\/p>\n Beyond the racing action, the event delivered a significant boost to the local economy. Organizers estimate the Grand Prix generated roughly $60 million in total economic impact, including about $30 million in direct spending.<\/p>\n Fans say the atmosphere is just as much of a draw as the competition on the track.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s usually a really good race, but just the atmosphere around downtown St. Pete on race day and the whole weekend \u2014 it\u2019s just fun to be a part of it,\u201d said race fan Allen Harkness.<\/p>\n Clay Rackley, another fan, said accessibility makes the experience special.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, it\u2019s been great to be able to walk from one end to the other, get so close to the cars \u2014 it\u2019s been great,\u201d Rackley said.<\/p>\n Grand Prix communications director Steve Bidlack said the event continues to grow year after year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just keeps growing and growing,\u201d Bidlack said. \u201cThis year more than ever, we\u2019ve seen a lot of three-day ticket buyers because of all that there is to do on track and off. Today\u2019s going to be another big day.\u201d<\/p>\n While final attendance numbers have not yet been released, organizers say turnout easily surpassed the 100,000 mark over the three days, reinforcing the race\u2019s importance to the city.<\/p>\n For St. Petersburg, the Grand Prix is more than just a pit stop \u2014 it\u2019s a victory lap for the local economy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg revitalized downtown, drawing massive crowds and generating an economic boost. ST.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-174359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}